176 THE COACHING AGE. 



coachmen and guards, who were entirely paid by 

 Cooper, notwithstanding remarks I have heard con- 

 demning it, was, I believe, favourably regarded by 

 the public, and was certainly adopted by other London 

 proprietors, as Chaplin and Nelson both ran coaches 

 on it ; and of course Cooper's opponents, the New 

 Company, were obliged to fall in with it when they 

 started. 



So far from coming down on his passengers with 

 charges for extra luggage, Cooper pursued the oppo- 

 site plan, very injudiciously, and much to his own 

 loss and injury. In those days, for a great deal of 

 heavy luggage, where expedition was indispensable, 

 and the goods were wanted immediately, the heavy, 

 strong, and large night-coaches were the only avail- 

 able means of transit. There might not be on the 

 road even what was called a fly-waggon, a vehicle 

 somewhat lighter and quicker than the broad- wheeled 

 waggon, which never went out of a walking pace. 



Cooper did not restrict his passengers in the 

 quantity of luggage they might take, or make any 

 charge for it. This, of course, soon became 

 known ; and the plan that commercial men and 

 many persons going up to London to purchase 

 quantities of goods adopted, would be to travel up 

 by the mail, make their purchases, and then return 

 by Cooper's night-coaches with their heavy packages. 



